"The word of the Lord came to me: 'Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover the lower part of your face or eat the customary food of mourners'" (vs. 15-17). How would you like to receive this word from the Lord? What could it possibly mean?
In Ezekiel's case, it meant the death of his wife! "So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded" (vs. 18). WHAT? God is taking away from His main man Ezekiel "the delight of [his] eyes?" And the prophet isn't even allowed to mourn or grieve in a customary way? What gives?
Not surprisingly, Ezekiel's peers have the same question: "Then the people asked me, 'Won’t you tell us what these things have to do with us?'" (vs. 19) The death of prophet's wife comes at the same time as the desecration of God's Temple in Jerusalem. Just like Ezekiel's most precious blessing is taken away, so will the most precious blessing of the Jews be destroyed. And, through Ezekiel, God was both informing the people that this was going to happen and instructing them on how to respond.
Marshall McLuhan once famously said, "The medium is the message" - implying that the medium itself becomes part of and identifiable with the message. This is true so often of God and His messengers, be they Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah - or, ultimately, Jesus. The message is encoded in their ministry. The Bible says it plainly: "Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord" (vs. 24).
Ezekiel's loss has a point. His suffering is to portend for the Israelites their coming suffering. And how the prophet copes is how they are to cope. Ultimately, this will lead them to a new understanding and appreciation of their Lord. "So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord" (vs. 27). I don't know if that gave any comfort to poor Ezekiel, but at least his loss had a deeper meaning.
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